Latin American Literature

In 1809, at the age of 18, Henriette Faber enrolled herself in medical school in Paris - and since medicine was a profession prohibited to women, she changed her name to Henri in order to matriculate. She would spend the next 15 years practicing medicine and living as a man. Drafted to serve as a surgeon in Napoleon's army, Faber endured the horrors of the 1812 retreat across Russia. She later embarked to the Caribbean and set up a medical practice in a remote Cuban village, where she married Juana de León, an impoverished local.

Wives and Daughters, Elizabeth Gaskell's last novel, is regarded by many as her masterpiece. Molly Gibson is the daughter of the doctor in the small provincial town of Hollingford. Her widowed father marries a second time to give Molly the woman's presence he feels she lacks, but until the arrival of Cynthia, her dazzling stepsister, Molly finds her situation hard to accept. Intertwined with the story of the Gibsons is that of Squire Hamley and his two sons.

Now, Bram Stoker's Dracula - the pinnacle of Gothic horror for generations - rises again. When young English lawyer Jonathan Harker arrives in Transylvania on the eve of Saint George's Day, he cannot shake a strange feeling of uneasiness. The air grows colder as he arrives at his destination: the castle of Count Dracula. Jonathan has been summoned by the count for business, and while he finds his new host obliging and polite, he can't help but notice the man's pallid skin, odd lack of appetite, and long daytime absences.

Havana, Cuba. December 1958. Two brothers find themselves on opposite sides of Castro’s revolution. One dark night, after rescuing a leader of the revolt under house arrest, one brother finds himself hunted. The other, an influential attorney, must make a choice. Help his brother, placing the whole family at risk, or let Batista’s forces capture him. His decision will haunt them both for the rest of their lives.

Recently divorced, Palma, a forty-three-year-old Latina, takes stock of her life when she reconnects with her gangster younger cousin recently released from prison. Her sexual obsession with him flares as she checks out her other options, but their family secrets bring them together in unexpected ways. In this wildly entertaining and sexy novel, Ana Castillo creates a memorable character with a flare for fashion, a longing for family, and a penchant for adventure.

Todos sabemos desde la infancia qué personas forman nuestra familia y cuáles son los lazos que nos unen a cada una de ellas. Todos menos la protagonista de esta novela, a quien nunca contaron que ella también, en algún momento de su vida, había tenido una. ¿Qué sucedió en aquellos años para que todos los vestigios de la época desaparecieran?

A collection of humorous, sexy, and highly neurotic tales about parenting, long-term relationships, systemic and interpersonal racism, and class conflict from the author of The Town of Babylon, The People Who Report More Stress deftly and poignantly expresses the frustration of knowing the problems and solutions to our society’s inequities but being unable to do anything about them.

Yolanda García—Yo, for short—is the literary one in the family. Her first published novel, in which she uses as characters practically everyone she knows, was a big success. Now she’s basking in the spotlight while those “characters” find their very recognizable selves dangling in that same blinding light. But turnabout is fair play, and so here, Yolanda García’s family and friends tell the truth about Yo.

La jamás inocencia es una novela para aprender y para reflexionar, sobre las peripecias de los personajes, y sobre nosotros mismos, como seres humanos y como seres sociales. A partir de la historia de una adolescente que súbitamente se enfrenta al horror del mundo vemos cómo pueden estar tejidos y entretejidos los hilos de la realidad, y además cómo es posible que la realidad siempre sea mucho más densa de lo que imaginamos.

El asesinato del general Joaquín Tinoco el 10 de agosto de 1919 precipitó,en pocas horas, la caída de la dictadura de su hermano Pelico. Durante treinta meses, los Tinoco gobernaron el país a sangre y fuego, a contrapelo de la posición oficial del presidente Wilson y de la crisis económica ocasionada por la Primera Guerra Mundial.

She is a loving grandmother to her two wild-child grandsons who know her only as abuelita. The Mexican government knows her as a criminal with far-reaching arms, fingers in every pie, and spies everywhere. The people of Juarez know her as their generous patroness. They call her La Mala.

Attorney Marc Mendes, the estranged son of a prominent Rabbi and a burned-out lawyer with addiction issues, plots his exit from the big city to a more peaceful life in idyllic Napa Valley. But before realizing his dream, the US government summons his Salvadoran life partner Isaac Perez to immigration court, threatening him with deportation.

Azconetl walked the earth, but her presence drew near those determined to overthrow it. With demons howling at the gate and the Malinche exhausted from defending their city, someone seized an opportunity to slip through unseen. Selah would be tested in her new role as a guardian while Rafael continued to battle the weight of his crown. If they didn’t act quickly, the Fifth Sun may set for good ushering forth the end of the world as they knew it.

The intrigues of peaceful Barchester are of tremendous importance to its inhabitants, and Anthony Trollope enjoys observing how differently they impinge on the separate worlds of men and women. Men have to make a place for themselves in society; for them ambition is necessary and justified. Women, on the other hand, have to make marriage their career, and it is up to them to make as good a match as possible. For Trollope, however, genuine love is of the utmost importance to everyone and the only real basis for marriage.

Una storia potente su cinque generazioni di donne e sui legami di amore e colpa che le uniscono attraverso il tempo e i confini. Cuba, 1866. María Isabel è la sola lavorante donna in una fabbrica di sigari. Ogni giorno, mentre le sue mani arrotolano incessantemente il tabacco, ascolta le parole di un uomo, Antonio, che legge per loro. Sono parole che la trasportano in mondi sconosciuti, come quello dei Miserabili di Victor Hugo, e che le aprono la mente e il cuore. Ma gli echi della guerra si fanno sempre più vicini.

Conrad’s Lord Jim is the iconic story of a romantic young man and his struggle with guilt and self-loathing. The novel begins with Jim’s earlier life as a ship’s officer. He and the other crew members abandon an imperiled vessel and its passengers after a mysterious collision reveals a dangerous bulge below the water line. But the ship does not sink and Jim survives to face an official inquiry. He is stripped of his license and faces universal scorn and the reality of his own guilt.

Solitario Cisneros thought his life was over long ago. He lost his wife, his family, even his country in the late 1870s when the Rio Grande shifted course, stranding the Mexican town of Olvido on the Texas side of the border. He’d made his brooding peace with retiring his gun and badge, hiding out on his ranch, and communing with horses and ghosts.

Pourquoi le chat s'en va-t-il tout seul ? Les chats anglais sont-ils vraiment les plus distingués ? Par quel prodige cet animal maléfique est-il devenu, au fil du temps, l'ami incontournable du monde de la culture ? Vous trouverez réponse à ces épineuses questions, et à bien d'autres, dans notre sélection de 17 textes cultes commentés et mis en perspective. Une balade littéraire divertissante et instructive à travers les textes de Baudelaire, du Bellay, Dumas, Poe, Perrault, Carrol, Montaigne, Verlaine, Balzac, Renard, La Fontaine, Champfleury, Moncrif. Textes commentés par Sylvain Trias.

En Bajo el sol de Ceiba Alta, Deisy Ascón Galego presenta una apasionante narrativa ambientada en un entorno de peligros y traiciones, donde los personajes luchan por sobrevivir en una Cuba del siglo XIX. La narrativa entrelaza ingeniosamente temas de clase social, engaño y resiliencia, a través de personajes como Camila, David y Charlotte, que se ven envueltos en conflictos personales y políticos que los llevarán a tomar decisiones difíciles.

Todos hemos experimentado el exilio. El primero, al salir del vientre de nuestra madre. Esta es una historia de lucha por la identidad. La batalla contra la pobreza, la discriminación y el desarraigo. Raíces en el aire es un viaje de amor y perseverancia. La lucha de una familia, un pueblo y un país por su identidad. De vez en cuando, te detendrás para reír y sentir como yo mientras comparto contigo esta novela. Disfrutarás de los aromas, sabores y alegrías de nosotros los caribeños, aún en circunstancias difíciles.